Citi Maintains Buy on Microsoft

Citi is out with its report today on Microsoft MSFT, maintaining Buy. In a note to clients, Citi writes, "We don't have conviction the product will be a raving success, but we believe the overwhelming investor sentiment is Windows 'Next' won't improve Microsoft's position in the consumer device market, where traditional consumer PCs have shown declines the last three quarters. We believe at current valuations and what we know about the upcoming product, that the risk-reward on shares is quite positive. As we noted a month ago, we now prefer Microsoft to Oracle in mega-cap software, with a positive risk-reward related around upcoming Windows 'Next' events contributing to our view." Shares of MSFT closed Thursday at $24.67, up 1.98% from Wednesday's close.